AN RAF Voyager tanker has
refuelled an F-35B for the first
time in the UK. The historic
sortie took place on October
16, at an altitude of 19,000ft
(5,791m) over the North Sea.
The Voyager, based at RAF
Brize Norton, Oxfordshire,
was previously used for air-
to-air refuelling during the
Lightning’s deployment
sorties flown from the US
to the UK earlier this year.
Following the sortie, a
Royal Navy F-35B pilot
assigned to No 617
Squadron, RAF, said: “It’s
fantastic to be able to linkup the UK’s fifth-generation
asset with the RAF’s Voyager
tanker in UK skies for the
first time. Being able to
refuel from an asset such
as Voyager gives the F-35B
the ability to deliver world
beating air power at range
in defence of the nation.”Jupiter and Juno fully
operational with MFTS
Above: MFTS Juno and Jupiter helicopters arrive at RAF Shawbury. Thirty-two helicopters were ordered for the rotary-wing
element of MFTS, comprising 29 Junos (serials ZM504 to ZM532) and three Jupiters (ZM500 to ZM502). Crown Copyright
ASCENT FLIGHT Training
is now fully operational
with its H135 Juno HT
and H145 Jupiter HT
helicopters as part of
the UK Military Flying
Training System (MFTS)
programme. Airbus
Helicopters announced
that as of October 2 it
had completed its service
provision build-up and was
fully embedded at RAF
Shawbury, Shropshire,
and RAF Valley, Anglesey,
supporting Ascent’s
training from newly
modernised facilities.
Earlier, on April 1, Ascent
and the Ministry of Defence
confirmed that Airbus
Helicopters was ready fortraining, in accordance
with the schedule for
the UK MFTS rotary-
wing element agreed
when the contract was
signed on May 16, 2016.
Airbus Helicopters
completed delivery of
29 Juno HT1s and three
Jupiter HT1s to Ascent
for the MFTS programmeearlier this year. As
previously reported, the
final helicopter, Juno
ZM532, was delivered
to Shawbury on May
25 – see MFTS orders
on track, July, p8. All 32
helicopters are equipped
with Airbus Helicopters’
latest Helionix avionics
suite. Dave Allport8 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com
NEWS
// DECEMBER 2018 #United Kingdom
Another
Texan
delivered
to Valley
ONE ADDITIONAL T-6C
Texan T1 has been
delivered to RAF Valley,
Anglesey, for the UK
Military Flying Training
System (MFTS) programme,
bringing the total at the
base to seven. The latest
arrival is ZM329/N2858B
(c/n PM-127), which flew
in on September 14 from
Glasgow Airport, Scotland,
where it had made an
overnight stop. It had
departed from the Beech
Factory Airport in Wichita,
Kansas, on September
10 via Des Moines
International Airport, Iowa,
to Ottawa International
Airport, Canada. It flew to
CFB Goose Bay the next
day before continuing to
Reykjavík, Iceland, and on
to Glasgow and then Valley.
The most recent
deliveries prior to this were
ZM327 and ZM328 which
arrived on August 20. The
arrival of the seventh T-6C
leaves just three aircraft- ZM330, ZM331 and
ZM332 – remaining to be
delivered. Dave Allport
Second QinetiQ
PC-21 delivery
THE SECOND PC-
for QinetiQ (c/n 311,
G-ETPB) is seen at the
Pilatus factory airfield
at Stans-Buochs on
October 16, preparing to
leave Switzerland on its
delivery flight to the UK.
The first QinetiQ PC-
(c/n 310, G-ETPA)
completed its maiden
flight on January 15 and
was officially presented to
the company on July 17.
In January last year
Pilatus Aircraft announced
signature of a contract
to provide two PC-21sto QinetiQ. The aircraft
will be operated by the
Empire Te st Pilots’ School
(ETPS) based at MOD
Boscombe Down, Wiltshire.
The PC-21s feature
modified flight instruments
to train test pilots and
flight test engineers.
QinetiQ will continue to
manage ETPS until at least
2028, under a £1bn deal with
the UK Ministry of Defence
announced on December
2, 2016. The contractor
is investing £85m in the
school to modernise the
UK’s test aircrew training.Voyager refuels F-35B
An F-35B refuels from an RAF Voyager by No 10 Squadron on October 16. Crown CopyrightStephan Widmer